U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters on Tuesday led about 20 angry residents of the Imperial Courts housing project to the Los Angeles Police Commission, where they accused police of continually harassing and abusing tenants in the sprawling complex. "Please call off the dogs," the Los Angeles Democrat told commission members. "Keep them from abusing the people." Waters and the residents alleged that, since the Nov.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies sought help from the public Friday in identifying a woman whose body was found New Year's Day in Malibu Creek State Park. The woman's body was discovered Thursday afternoon about two miles from the end of Corral Canyon Road by someone walking in the park, said homicide Det. Ike Aguilar. The woman appears to have been white and in her late 20s, he said.

Hawaii state prosecutors said Wednesday they are investigating an Orange County company to determine if its sales of how-to kits to would-be travel agents constitute an illegal pyramid scheme. In addition, World Class Network in Irvine faces a securities probe by another Hawaii agency to determine if it is selling unregistered securities in the form of distributorships.

Song Guorong's genealogy gets hazy just a few generations before his own. But follow it back further--by 2,000 years--and he'll tell you exactly who lies at the root of his family tree. "I know my ancestors were Romans," the lanky 39-year-old says in a matter-of-fact voice as he navigates the rutted lanes of this dusty hamlet deep in China's interior. It's a remarkable claim to make, in a place as far east of Rome as New York is west.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Wednesday that it is reopening its investigation of the drowning of Delores Jackson, former wife of entertainer Tito Jackson and former sister-in-law of pop superstar Michael Jackson. The district attorney's office acted in response to new evidence released Tuesday by coroner's officials, who said Jackson may have died of an "assisted drowning." Jackson, 39, was pulled from the pool of her boyfriend, businessman Donald J.

LONDON - As the death toll rose to 78, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced two separate investigations Thursday into a spectacular train derailment in northwest Spain, one of the worst railway disasters in the country's history. “We have lived through a terrible accident ... which I fear will remain in our memory for a long time,” Rajoy said near the site of Wednesday's derailment. He added that Spain would observe three days of mourning. In addition to the 78 dead, a tally that authorities fear may climb higher, about 140 people were reported injured in the incident near the Christian pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela, in Spain's Galicia region.

Here is a recap of investigations into public finances in Bell: L.A. County district attorney's office: Prosecutors charged eight current and former Bell officials with public corruption; the office is now investigating fees charged to businesses. U.S. Justice Department: It is investigating possible civil rights violations by the city. California attorney general's office: It filed civil lawsuits against Bell officials and is seeking oversight of Bell affairs.

A year after calling for a "new model" for college athletics, NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz opened the 85th annual NCAA convention Monday by asking the organization's members to develop "a second chapter to that model," including a review of the NCAA enforcement process.

The White House and the Republican congressional leadership are quietly preparing for intensified scrutiny and investigations of Obama administration actions if the GOP takes control of the House, officials say. Republican lawmakers who would be in charge of investigative and oversight committees plan to renew a stack of information demands that have languished before federal agencies over the last 22 months. They have indicated that, if victorious next month, they will use subpoena power if necessary to compel officials to testify and provide documents.

A federal probe of NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb outlines allegations that he stifled investigations, mistreated department employees and maintained a close personal relationship with top officials of the agency he was supposed to independently monitor, according to a confidential summary of the findings obtained by the Orlando Sentinel in Florida.